Petrol strike causes chaos as many pumps run dry.

It is quite frightening to see how very dependant we are on the steady supply of petrol from our refineries.

This latest shortage is caused by The CEPPWAWU union striking over wages and this is causing delivery problems nationwide. The refineries are still making regular deliveries, but panic buying has caused stations to sell up to 50% more than usual, resulting in many dry pumps and more panic.

The mechanised public transport system cannot nearly cope with the volume of commuters, this slack is taken up by massive numbers of minibus taxi’s, which fill up daily. If these run out of petrol there will be big doo doo. This did not however prevent me from filling up…to the brim.

I saw the strikers the other day standing outside the refinery in Milnerton some were carrying Knobkerrys, (a traditional weapon) we prompted the police to show up heavily armed with shotguns (another traditional weapon). There was a big banner up with something on it about socialism.

The strike is said to be over soon. An offer has been put to the unions, which had not yet been rejected (this is good news) and so things may be back to normal soon. If you are due to be driving in SA soon and will be needing petrol, keep your tank topped up wherever you can until things normalise and try keep your consumption to a minimum.